Belmont Stars & Stripes All-Stakes Pick 4
 

8th: Deep field, but I love #3 Divisidero's last race too much not to put him on top. It was clear he had ability from his first two races and especially his monster effort at Churchill on Derby day, but he had the look of a one-dimensional closer. In the Pennine Ridge though, he was off last, galloped for about a quarter-mile, then made a huge middle move toward the lead on the backstretch. He proceeded to go four-wide every step around the far turn with the rails out and gutted out a stretch battle with Takeover Target, who got a much better trip. He proved he can win big races in multiple ways and I couldn't have been more impressed. I'll use a few others as B's. #4 Canndal has to be considered a dangerous shipper with Christophe Soumillon for The Aga Khan. #6 Closing Bell is a sneaky price play, as he's shown a pretty good late punch in both of his races and WinStar/Bill Mott elect to enter him in a $1.25 million Grade I off a maiden win on dirt. Very confident move for Hall of Fame connections and having Lezcano never hurts. Those are the main three I want. I'm playing against Chad Brown's horses, I'll cover with #2 Bolo, as there isn't a lot of speed signed on and I keep having visions of him walking around the track and opening up in the stretch to beat me at like 5-2.

A: 3
B: 2,4,6

9th: #6 Tonalist is obviously the horse to beat, as he has come back a much-improved 4-year-old, blowing away the competition in the Westchester before finishing a good closing 2nd in the Met Mile for his first loss at Belmont. There are hurdles though, as he breaks widest in a race that starts on the clubhouse turn and there doesn't appear to be much pace to set up his late burst. #3 Mylute ran huge first start for Pletcher and first off a 300-day layoff last out and this distance is likely more up his alley than the one-turn mile. He's my other A with Tonalist. Pletcher's other horse, #2 Coach Inge isn't impossible, as he should be in a controlling position and was very game in winning the Brooklyn while stretching out three furlongs. My bomb idea is #1 Street Babe, now running at his sixth track in six starts. He showed a lot of talent from his debut on, but his best race came in his Mineshaft win, where he was allowed to stalk the pace and for whatever reason, he was never involved early in his last two stinkers. Expecting him to cut out a good trip stalking the speed of Coach Inge and though he's probably not good enough to win, he can hit the board at a big price.

A: 3,6
B: 2
C: 1,5

10th: Yeah, it's a 14-horse field. Yeah, she's never gone this far. But I'm not playing against #2 Lady Eli. She's simply the best 3-year-old turf filly we've seen in this country for a while. There also figures to be plenty of pace in here to set up her late punch, which is an absolutely devastating turn of foot. I think with any kind of trip, she's going to be very tough to beat. I'll use the two Euros as C's.

A: 2
B: none
C: 8,10

11th: #3 Private Zone is much the one to down, especially after scratches. He does meet a formidable pace foe to his outside in #4 Green Gratto, however, so I'll also use inconsistent but occasionally brilliant #5 Clearly Now. It's interesting that his regular rider Lezcano hops off to ride #7 C. Zee, who I think is a little interesting. He was starting to get good as a 4-year-old before he got the wrong ride in the Churchill Downs stakes, being hustled from the rail after a sizzling pace instead of dropping back and making one run. Perhaps with the rider switch, he gets the right trip today.

A: 3,5
B: 6,7

$1 2,3,4,6/2,3,6/2/3,5,6,7 $48
$1 3/1,3,5,6/2/3,5 $8
$1 3/3,6/8,10/3,5 $8
$10 3/6/2/3 $10
$4 3/3/2/3 $5
$.50 3/3,6/2,8,10/3,5,6,7 $12

$90 total
G/L